In And Out Of Trouble
by xthinkxhappyxthoughtsx
Summary: After almost killing Elrond with their latest trick (not really but they did knock him out) the twins, Estel and Legolas go to Lorien and the trouble that follows leglas and estel around strikes again. COMPLETE


Disclaimer I do not own any characters in the story. Well I wish I owned legolas but I cant see that happening in the near future.  
  
Author Nenya  
  
Spoilers None that in know of  
  
Summary The latest prank is the last straw for Elrond; he sends Legolas Estel Elladan and Elrohir to Lorien, but as usual disaster strikes and the trouble that follows the Legolas and Estel around strikes again.  
  
Email M.Bentall2k@INVICTA.kent.sch.uk  
  
Rating PG-13, slight violence (it wasn't going to be that violent at all really, until my sister got hold of it, she's my younger sister as well so it's slightly disturbing that she is so fond of violence)  
  
It was a bright warm sunny day, the birds were singing gaily, and Legolas Greenleaf was singing with them while his white horse cantered into the courtyard at Imladris. As Legolas neared the house he could just hear Lord Elrond's dulcet tones echoing round the courtyard.  
  
"THAT'S IT! GET OUT! I DON'T CARE WHERE YOU GO, JUST GET OUT ALL OF YOU!"  
  
Legolas sighed, he had only just got here and it looked as though he would have to leave again already. Quickly he dismounted and turned to the door just in time to see Elrond's three sons come stumbling out laughing hysterically. Their mirth was so great that they didn't see Legolas standing there grinning.  
  
"OK what have you done this time?"  
  
"Legolas oh buddy oh pal, its good to see you" Estel cried gleefully  
  
"Yeah, hi Legolas, don't spose you could go get us some food could you, ada threw us out before we had time to eat."  
  
"Ok I'll go get some food and when I get back you can tell me what you did now." Cautiously Legolas crept into the hall, sadly the door creaked and Elrond strode angrily out of the nearest door, expecting to see his sons in the act of creeping back in.  
  
"I thought I told you all too. oh its you Legolas, as you might have noticed my sons are outside but it's good to see you nonetheless."  
  
Good morning my lord" said Legolas bowing respectfully "I have a letter for you from my father. I believe it is about the situation of the borders in Mirkwood."  
  
"Thank you Legolas, can I ask why you have come indoors when all my sons are outside"  
  
"Oh um I was giving you the letter and I wanted to get some food to eat, I haven't had breakfast, yeah that's what I was doing"  
  
Elrond looked shrewdly at the prince, but then he smiled,  
  
"Go on, go to the kitchen, I am sure Celebdoril will be happy to give you something."  
  
Grinning, Legolas walked along the hallway and into the kitchen. Celebdoril looked up and when he saw Legolas he smiled and went to greet the elf.  
  
"Legolas, I haven't seen you for a while,"  
  
"Well after getting captured by slavers my father hasn't been to keen on letting me out of the house, he decided however that I'd been isolated long enough so here I am."  
  
"Well what brings you to the kitchens?"  
  
"I was hungry and Elrond sent me along to get something to eat"  
  
This time it was Celebdoril that looked shrewdly at him before saying  
  
"I'm guessing you'll be wanting food for those three as well?" there was no need to ask who those three were. Grinning Legolas replied  
  
"You caught me red handed, but you know what their like if you don't give me enough food for them as well they'll just steal mine. Legolas was trying to look pathetic and innocent as he said this but he wasn't really succeeding. Laughing at his attempt Celebdoril said.  
  
"oh go on then wait a minute and I'll just get something" five minutes later he had pushed a pack full of food into Legolas hands and shoved him out the back door where he was greeted by Estel and the twins, who immediately fell on the food and started eating.  
  
"You three look like you haven't eaten for a month"  
  
"Well all the scheming we've been doing to play tricks on ada is hard work."  
  
"Speaking of which what you three did this time, you haven't told me yet." At the memory all three of them burst out laughing again, they looked so funny rolling around in hysterical laughter that even Legolas joined in.  
  
"Come on out with it, what did you do"  
  
"I think what didn't we do would be quicker to tell you."  
  
"Oh just get on with it and tell me will you" Legolas  
  
"Ok, for the past week we've been doing the usual tricks, you know water on the door, holly in the bed, but today we decided to do something a bit more ambitious."  
  
Legolas groaned at this  
  
"What on Arda did you do?"  
  
"Well we spent yesterday trying to think of something to do but it was quite hard, we've done most of the tricks before and we wanted to be original. Finally Estel came up with the very thing; the time he's been spending with the rangers seems to be paying off as that's where he got the idea from. You see our problem was that we hadn't been thinking big enough. Recently the rangers have been showing Estel traps to use when hunting, and this included nets to capture things with."  
  
Legolas was beginning to see where Elladan was going with this and his grin widened as he guessed what was coming.  
  
"We liked Estel's idea of putting a net outside his room for him to get caught in but as we didn't think he would be able to miss spotting it we decided that we should put water above his door as usual so that he would be too angry to spot it. We didn't think he would be too cross at this, so after he had gone to sleep that night we fixed it all in place. Like we said we didn't think he would be too cross, but we didn't count on him waking up in the middle of the night with a headache. He got up and went to the door to get something for his head, the water bucket plan worked, he was so angry he ran out of the room without looking where he was going. The net worked a bit too well, he was flung up with the net and he hit his head rather hard on the ceiling and knocked himself unconscious. When Celebdoril came out of his room, which is just up the corridor to ada's he got a bit of a shock at the sight of ada unconscious, soaked and suspended from the ceiling in a net.  
  
He came too soon after we cut him down. He took one look at the three of us standing there and, well you heard the yelling" Elladan finished of his story breaking into more peals of laughter which Legolas, Estel, and Elrohir quickly joined in. They stopped as one however at the sight of Elrond striding out of the house and walking towards him. Before any of his sons could say anything he said  
  
"OK you three I have decided that you are going on a trip to Lothlorien, you can visit Arwen and give her a letter from me. Legolas you can go as well if you wish, although you are quite welcome to stay here without my sons. Somehow I think you would rather go with them. In which case you can get whatever you need and leave as soon as possible, you are to be out of Rivendell by this evening. Get moving." he left them just as suddenly as he came and disappeared back into the house leaving them talking excitedly.  
  
"I don't remember the last time I saw Arwen, it was at least a thousand years ago" began Legolas excitedly  
  
"Don't worry Legolas, we're her brothers and we haven't seen her for about five years" said Elrohir laughing  
  
"It will be good to see her again" agreed Elladan excited at seeing his sister again.  
  
Only Estel remained silent, lost in the memory of his last meeting with Arwen. The twins and Legolas were quick to pick up on this and soon they were teasing him unmercifully about him and Arwen. In attempt to stop them he got up and said they should start packing but it didn't work and as he strode angrily up to his room he could hear the taunts following him.  
  
He could not stay angry for long though, not only was he going to see Arwen again, but he was going to see Lothlorien as well. He had never been there before but he had heard of its beauty from many people. He also had yet to meet the Lady Galadriel and humming softly to himself, knowing from experience that his singing was seldom tolerated, he quickly packed the few belongings that he took on all his journeys. He could here his brothers in their rooms doing their own packing, yelling at each other across the corridor in their excitement, he could also hear Legolas outside greeting one of the Rivendell elves outside who had just arrived. Doing a little dance in his excitement he quickly finished his packing and sprinted outside to wait with his friend.  
  
His brothers were packed soon afterwards and in his study Elrond heard the four of them yell out in farewell to the elf lord as they left the courtyard, heaving a sigh of relief Elrond turned back to his books. Finally he could get some work done without having to continually look over his shoulder.  
  
The road goes ever on and on  
Through twists and turns along the way  
Beneath the moon, the stars and sun  
Through wind and rain and night and day  
  
Crossing rivers passing streams  
Over mountains, through tree and glen  
Passing places seen only in dreams  
Leading you through field and fen  
  
As usual the four were singing as they went, well actually only three of them were as they refused to let Estel sing, last time he had sang as they travelled he had attracted a large group of orcs and almost got him and Legolas killed. Instead he sat there glowering and planning horrible tortures for the three elves.  
  
It took two days of travelling before they reached the foot of Caradhras and by then it was nightfall. It was here that the trouble that seemed to follow the four where ever they went started. They had not set up camp for more than half an hour when Legolas's ears picked up the sound of howling on the wind. He stood up quickly, notching his bow and the twins and Estel followed suit. They all knew what that noise was wargs!  
  
"Again with the wargs, you know Elladan we never have this problem when it's just you and me travelling, only when we are joined by Estel and Legolas"  
  
"Couldn't agree more Ro, this is all your fault you two"  
  
"Hey I resent that" replied Legolas, grinning "my life was very calm and peaceful till I met Aragorn"  
  
"Yeah well, when you prissy elves have stopped talking about me like I wasn't here there are wargs coming in case you haven't noticed"  
  
Eyes straining through the dark Legolas could just pick out the shapes of the oncoming attackers and groaning he said  
  
"Not just wargs, there seem to be orcs as well" sighing in reply Elladan asked  
  
"How many"  
  
"About five wargs and a dozen orcs"  
  
At that moment the enemy came into reach of their arrows and soon the camp was singing with the sound of bows. Three wargs and five orcs had fallen before they came to close for arrows and as one the four companions threw their bows aside and reached for their swords. The clang of metal and the battle cries of the orcs did not last long; the orcs and wargs were no match for the skills of the elves and humans and were quickly overcome as the four ducked and dodged the oncoming blows and skilfully struck out at their opponents.  
  
Felling the last orc Legolas sheathed his knives panting slightly from the battle, looking around he saw that his friends were doing the same and to his relief they were unhurt.  
  
"Well that was exhilarating" Aragorn said, grinning slightly as he regarded his companions,  
  
"That's one word for it" replied his eldest brother "but at least you and Legolas refrained from getting yourselves killed this time."  
  
"You know Elladan as you may have noticed by the fact that your younger brother and I are still here we have yet to pass on to the halls of Mandos so that comment really doesn't make sense"  
  
"That's a good point Elladan, he's right we're not dead and to my knowledge never have been yet" agreed Aragorn, grinning annoyingly, though the smile disappeared quite quickly as the bedroll hit his face.  
  
Pretty soon another fight was going on in the camp as the friends wrestled and threw whatever they could at each other. At last they got bored and after finding all there different belongings they went to bed ready for the long journey the next day.  
  
The next day dawned bright and warm and they rose early, they piled the bodies of the dead up and made a bonfire to burn their remains, that done they packed up the camp and cleared the area of any signs that they had been there then, once they had finished they loaded up there horses and once more set out on there journey.  
  
They travelled quickly wanting to be over the mountain as soon as possible, though it was spring snow was still on the mountain pass and it was bitterly cold, this did not matter to the elves but they did no wish for Estel to get ill and catch a cold from the weather. Therefore by the time evening was over they had passed the snow and had reached the foothills of the pass, finding a hollow in the mountainside they decided to stop for the night and, setting their horses free to search for grass they set up camp and lit a fire to warn off any animals nearby. So far the three brothers had been bickering about some trivial matter and Legolas had been listening to their banter in amusement but, seeing that Estel looked close to throttling one of his brothers as they ganged up on him he decided he should distract them. Leaning forward, a mischievous grin on his face he said  
  
"You know it's been a while since we told any stories, I think the last time was in the halls of fire and that was several months ago"  
  
"Your right Legolas" agreed Aragorn "and I know just the one"  
  
"Oh no Estel, haven't you run out of stories about us yet" groaned the twins in protest  
  
"I don't think I would ever run out of stories about you, you've done to many stupid things and every time I come close to running out you do a load more stupid things, but the story I was thinking about wasn't about you, it was about Legolas" that wiped the smile off the princes face as he started spluttering in protest.  
  
"Wait a minute when I made that suggestion, I didn't mean you should tell one about me"  
  
"Well my friend you should have thought about that before you go around suggesting things" replied a grinning strider "now be quiet and let me tell my tale...  
  
This happened about a year ago, Legolas was visiting me at Rivendell, and as you two were at the Grey Havens with ada to see Cirdan you missed this. A couple of weeks before Legolas visited I was at Mirkwood and Legolas played a trick on me and embarrassed me in front of his court but telling me about some stupid tradition that the elves there had and when I did what he told me to I ended up looking incredibly stupid"  
  
"Hey what's this, I haven't heard that story; let's listen to that one instead"  
  
"No I'm telling the story and we're hearing about Legolas"  
  
"Sorry little bro your overruled come on Legolas how did you make a fool of Estel" After sighing in relief at escaping humiliation Legolas began the story  
  
"As Estel has already told you he was visiting me in Mirkwood and I decided it would be amusing to tell him about a tradition we had in Mirkwood in the middle of spring every year." he broke of at that moment, the memory of the event causing him to laugh out loud, the twins waited patiently for him to continue and when he had his giggles under control he carried on  
  
"I told him that on that day of the year the water in the enchanted river lost its enchantment for the day and you could drink it without falling asleep, I told Estel that if there were any visitors to Mirkwood one of them would have to present a cup of the water to the king and that as a visitor he should do it. At this point Estel pointed out that he wasn't the only visitor to the wood so why is that he did it. I told him that as the prince it was my duty to pick who presented the cup and that I had chosen Estel. I'm not sure if he believed me because he asked Ranien, Trelan and Beleth to confirm the tale. They were all in on the trick and told him that it was true so he agreed to do it. It's a bit stupid really; he asked the three people that I was most likely to let in on the trick. I mean if he really wanted to find out if it was true or not he would have asked someone like my father. Anyway the day arrived and that morning he went down to the river and filled a goblet with the water. That night at dinner he picked up the goblet and approached my father he said "I offer you this cup of water to celebrate mid spring day" now my father saw my face and guessed it was a trick and not wanting to embarrass your brother he had a sip of the water. Everyone else in the hall was laughing by this time but when my father suddenly fell into a deep sleep they stopped pretty quickly. His entourage jumped up and started accusing Estel of poisoning the king and quite a few elves were screaming at him.  
  
My father had only had a small sip so he came to pretty quickly, just in time to stop his guards from beheading Estel. Sadly for Estel the sleep had made father forget the fact that I had set Estel up and he started yelling at Estel for his stupidity, everyone else was laughing at him and he was standing there looking, mortified. Eventually I rescued him and took him up to my room. I didn't stay there with him though as he looked as though he would like to murder me. Instead I left him to calm down while I went for a walk with Ranien, Trelan, and Beleth. By the time we returned he managed to laugh a bit and seemed less inclined to murder me, it was a while until he came down to meals though." By the time Legolas had finished telling his story the three elves were rolling around hysterically while Estel sat there grimacing at the memory. Their laughter was heard a lot that night, echoing through the darkness as they swapped more tales, and stories, of the past, but finally they finished embarrassing each other and turned in for the night hoping to complete their journey the next day.  
  
Again they awoke early the next morning and did not delay in packing up, eager as they were to finish their journey that day. Soon they had got off the foothills and were following the Silverlode into the golden haze of the wood. By late afternoon they had reached the eaves of the wood and Aragorn straining his ears could hear the sound of what he thought was someone singing.  
  
"Can you hear that" he asked the others "it's someone singing"  
  
The elves laughed over this before Legolas replied  
  
"Nay that is just the voice of the Nimrodel, the great waterfall named for an elf that used to live here, and then when the darkness in the mountains awoke she left the wood and was lost for ever."  
  
Soon they had reached the vast waterfall and Aragorn stared in wonder, he hadn't expected the wood to be this beautiful, the trees shone in the sun and almost seemed to glow. The waterfall gushed and bounced over the rocks and the sun shining down made it appear to be full of falling rainbows. Even the elves, which had seen this many times before, seemed to be in awe of the sight of the falling water in the sun as it joined the Silverlode in the rush of shining silver water. They did not notice the elves creeping up on them and it was only when the first two elves pushed the twins into the pond they were standing next to that they were aware of them. The twins came up spluttering, but the shock on their faces turned to delight when they saw the elves that had pushed them in.  
  
"Halidir, Orophin it's been ages since we saw you" cried the twins and Legolas "how are you all?"  
  
"We are fine" answered the elves in the high tongue at this moment, then the smile on the Lorien elves faces vanished as they noticed Estel. Turning to the twins and still in the high tongue Halidir said  
  
"What are you doing bringing a human here you two, you know that's not allowed, who is he anyway." Estel had been following this conversation with a worried look on his face that may have had something to do with the ring of arrows pointing at him and on hearing the question, he answered in elvish, much to the shock of the Lorien elves who did not expect him to understand their speech.  
  
"My name is Estel, adopted son of Lord Elrond, we were sent here by him and I have a letter for the lady Arwen from him my lord" he said fluently. When the elves had recovered from their shock Halidir said  
  
"well son of Elrond it is my pleasure to meet you, however if you are to be taken to the lady Galadriel without permission you must be blindfolded first as no mortals must be allowed to cross into Caras Galadhon seeing the paths of the elves if it has not been allowed by our lady."  
  
"Wait a minute; our grandmother would not want one of her distant kin to enter her realm blindfolded"  
  
"What do you mean Elladan, there not distant kin, he's a mortal, they are not related" laughed Halidir  
  
"Actually" replied Elladan "he is not just a mortal, and however distantly, he is related to my family and to the Lord and Lady of the wood"  
  
"Calm down Elladan" broke in Estel grinning "I don't mind being blindfolded, the suns hurting my eyes anyway" he joked. Elladan gave in and Halidir came forward and bound Estel's eyes so he could not see out. Then, with Legolas leading Estel to make sure he didn't trip they started the last bit of their journey.  
  
In being blindfolded, Estel's other senses seemed sharper and he heard the elves approaching quicker than he usually would. After a hurried conversation with Halidir he felt his blindfold being taken off and saw Halidir standing in front of him smiling.  
  
"It seems the lady had word of your coming and she sends word that no blindfold is needed for you Estel. Welcome to Caras Galadhon"  
  
Estel stared around blinking in the light, they had reached the river and he could see some of the elves tying a rope from one tree to another to make a crossing.  
  
"Um I'm not trying to be difficult but I don't think I can cross that way" said Estel quietly  
  
"Oh don't worry Estel, we'll put another rope up higher up and you can hold onto that as you go"  
  
Soon the company had all crossed safely and walking swiftly they soon came to the city of the elves. The houses of the realm were all built on flets in the tree and in the middle stood the tallest tree with the biggest flet. The home of Galadriel and Celeborn.  
  
Estel however did not have long to admire the city because a whirlwind seemed to appear and immediately started hugging Elladan.  
  
"Arwen" he cried "it's been to long since we saw you last, you need to visit more often"  
  
"I know" she agreed, moving on to hug Elrohir "but I never seem to find the time" she then turned to Estel who seemed to have grown shy in the past minute and stuck out his hand, but Arwen ignored it and hugged him as well.  
  
"It's good to see you as well Estel" she whispered in his ear then turned to greet Legolas.  
  
"come everyone, my grandmother wishes to meet you Estel, and she wants to see you three again, its been a long time since she saw you last"  
  
Following Arwen to the centre tree they began the long climb to the top. It did not take the elves long to complete the climb but Aragorn was soon left behind, it took him twenty minutes to reach the top but reach it he did, and when he got there he saw for the first time in his life, Galadriel, lady of the wood, fair as the morning, white and beautiful she was, the last elf left on middle earth to have seen the light of the trees. Aragorn climbed up onto the fret just in time to hear Elrohir say  
  
"And that human scrambling up at the moment is Estel your adopted grandson" getting to his feet Aragorn approached her in awe of her beauty.  
  
"Elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo (a star shines on the hour of our meeting)" he said bowing his head respectfully. The lady laughed and held out her hand  
  
"It is my pleasure to meet you son of Arathorn, I have head much about you, from my grandchildren and son in law" Aragorn jumped when he heard her speak of his heritage but then he laughed at himself, of course ada would have told her.  
  
"I hope you don't mind having us here my lady" he said "our father grew weary of us"  
  
"Hmm" she said smiling "I don't think I want to know what it was that led to him kicking you out, do you have any message from him to us?"  
  
"Yes" said fumbling in his pocket for the letters "one for you and one for the lady Arwen" he passed them over and after greeting the Lord Celeborn he went to stand next to his brothers. The lady looked up and smiled at them,  
  
"all right" she said "I know you want to get down and talk to Arwen, I understand you have not seen her for a while you can go now"  
  
She looked shrewdly at Aragorn as she said this and he guessed that she knew how he felt about her granddaughter. Bowing respectfully to the lord and lady they left the flet in turn, Aragorn going first to the dismay of his brothers Arwen, and Legolas  
  
"Hurry up Estel your to slow, why didn't you let us go first?" complained the four elves stuck above him.  
  
"Because I knew that you would all leave me behind" he replied demurely slowing down even more though the swift kick to his head sped him up again. Finally with much grumbling and moaning on the elves part they reached the bottom of the tree.  
  
"Well" said Arwen brightly "I suppose you want to see where you'll all be sleeping, follow me" she led them to a nearby tree with several large canopy covered flets.  
  
"This one is mine" she said as they reached the first flet "Estel, yours is the next one along, then its Legolas, then yours Elladan and lastly yours Elrohir."  
  
"So, Arwen, what have you been doing recently?" asked Elrohir, curious, understandable considering he hadn't seen his sister recently.  
  
"first you can tell me what you lot have been doing to make ada throw you out, and don't say you were only visiting, you have never just been visiting you only come here to keep out of trouble, not that it ever works" she finished thoughtfully "you always get into just as much trouble when your here"  
  
The sons of Elrond and Legolas started giggling as they thought of the net, they told Arwen and she was soon laughing with them.  
  
"It's good to see you again, I've already got lots of things planned" she said wiping her eyes on the corner of her sleeve as she finished laughing.  
  
"hmm" said Legolas shrewdly "would that be playing ticks on people or what, if we keep playing tricks then we'll be sent somewhere else soon, we've been sent to Lorien, Mirkwood, and Rivendell so far in hopes to keep us out of trouble and nothing has worked yet, that just leaves the grey havens or Valinor now."  
  
"Don't worry Legolas" she said patting him on the back looking innocent, always a sign of trouble, "we won't be playing too many tricks and grandmother has always been able to take a joke."  
~~~~~  
  
"Shh Elladan, your wake her up if your not careful"  
  
It was the middle of their first night at Lorien and the twins, Estel, and Legolas were already playing their first trick. Arwen was their unlucky victim and she was oblivious to her fate.  
  
"Don't worry Legolas, the sleeping draught that I put in her drink was pretty strong, there is no chance of her waking up."  
  
"Are you sure we should be doing this" said Estel nervously from the doorway  
  
"Oh shh Estel, you worry too much the most she'll do is ignore us for the rest of our trip"  
  
"Exactly we come all this way only to be ignored by the person we came to visit"  
  
"Well actually we didn't come all this way to visit Arwen; we were chucked out of the house by ada"  
  
"Same difference, anyway if your determined to do this lets hurry up before we're discovered."  
  
The Next Morning  
  
"HELP, YOU LOT ARE ALL DEAD; IF SOMEONE DOESN'T GET ME DOWN RIGHT NOW YOU WILL ALL REGRET IT."  
  
The deafening yells woke up all the elves of the realm immediately and sent them rushing out in crowds to discover the source of the row. What they saw sent some of the elves into fits of laughter and caused others to run to the victim's aid. Lady Arwen was tied up to a branch of a tree from her arms and was twisting in her bonds trying to escape.  
  
The elves that had ran to her help quickly wished they hadn't as strategically placed traps caught them and flung them into the air. Soon there was quite a collection of elves swinging from the branches of the tree. Some in nets and others, with their feet caught in loops of ropes, were hanging upside down. One thing in common was that every single suspended elf was yelling abuse at the four pranksters that were doubled over in laughter.  
  
Finally the lord and lady of the wood arrived at the scene and they both took in the sight before their eyes, each reacting in different ways. The lord Celeborn pursed his lips, trying not to laugh, giving quite an adequate attempt at looking stern while the lady Galadriel, much to the surprise of both the spectators and victims, let out a shriek of hysterical laughter and rolled over clutching her stomach.  
  
Finally however she took pity on the sufferers and, with the help of her husband and several other elves she stepped carefully over the grass to avoid the traps and approached the tree. She wasn't careful enough though and before any of the tricksters could warn her she sprung a net and joined the other trapped elves on the tree.  
  
Immediately the viewers surged forward, the remaining traps were let off, and the four that were responsible for it all decided it was time to make themselves scarce and sprinted off disappearing round the corner.  
  
By the time that evening fell they deemed it safe to return, sadly they were very much mistaken. They reached the tree that they were residing in easily enough but when they got to their flets they were met by a large and exceedingly angry looking mob of elves.  
  
"Get them" yelled Arwen, looking surprisingly bloodthirsty for such a fair elf.  
  
Immediately the throng fell on the four and in three minutes flat they found themselves trussed up like a load of chickens. That wasn't the worst of it though; one by one the four pranksters were suspended from the topmost branches of the tree in separate nets.  
  
"Ok we're sorry everyone, please let us down"  
  
"Yeah we'll be good I promise"  
  
"I'm the prince of Mirkwood, if you don't let me down I'll be very angry and you wont like me when I'm angry."  
  
Their complaints, promises and threats fell on deaf ears and eventually they gave up, and after trying unsuccessfully to get comfortable, they attempted to go to sleep. The next morning however when they were all extremely tired and still hadn't been let out they started up again. In the end though they decided there was only one thing left to do.  
  
"Estel" Legolas said "I'm sure I'm going to regret this but it's the only way I can think of to get us down from here."  
  
"What it is?" Estel asked curiously  
  
"Your going to have to sing, it's the only way"  
  
"With pleasure" Estel replied, knowing the effect his singing had on people, elves in particular. Taking a deep breath he started singing at the top of his voice. Yelling as loudly as his lungs would allow he sung the most annoying thing he could think of.  
  
I know a song that will get on your nerves  
Get on your nerves  
Get on your nerves  
I know a song that will get on your nerves  
Get get get on your nerves  
  
I know a song that will get on your nerves  
Get on your nerves  
Get on your nerves  
I know a song that will get on your nerves  
Get get get on your nerves  
  
I know a song that will get on your nerves  
Get on your nerves  
Get on your nerves  
I know a song that will get on your nerves  
Get, get, get on your nerves  
  
I know a song that will get on your nerves  
Get on your nerves  
Get on your nerves  
I know a song  
  
By the time he had sung the song three times half the elves below were yelling abuse at him and the other half were holding their ears in agony.  
Finally Arwen yelled up at him  
  
"Shut up right now Estel or you will be sorry"  
  
"Are you going to let us out then?" he asked  
  
"No"  
  
"OK" smiling innocently at her he opened his mouth to start again  
  
This is the song that never ends  
And nobody knows when it began  
It goes round and round and round a bend  
And then it starts all over again  
  
This is the song that never ends  
And nobody knows when it began  
It goes round and round and round a bend  
And then it starts all over again  
  
This is the song that never ends  
And nobody knows when it began  
It goes round and round and round a bend  
And then it starts all over again  
  
This is the song that never ends  
And nobody knows when it began  
It goes round and round and round a bend  
And then it starts all over again  
  
"Fine fine, I'm coming" grumbling and climbing deliberately slowly Arwen approached the four in their nets. Deciding that she wasn't going fast enough Estel started singing, -Sorry, screaming- again.  
  
Why are we waiting?  
Cause I'm suffocating  
Why are we waiting?  
Please hurry up  
  
At the sound of his voice Arwen sped up and she reached the top in record time and began cutting the prisoners down.  
  
"I congratulate you Estel" Legolas said "I knew you could not sing but I didn't realise you knew such a collection of annoying songs"  
  
"Well the village children in Strayton weren't all bad; I learnt quite a lot of songs from them."  
  
By this time they were all free and mock bowing Legolas said.  
  
"Thank you Arwen, your so kind"  
  
"yeah well, play anymore tricks like that and next time we'll do the same but gag you" with this threat hanging the four decided not to tease her anymore and instead began to tell her what they had planned next.  
~~~~~  
  
"You know I really do feel sorry for ada, is this the type of thing he has to put up with at Rivendell?" Arwen asked curiously the next night.  
  
"Hmm" Elladan said looking thoughtful "pretty much, we give him breaks though, you know to recuperate after every couple of tricks"  
  
"Yeah we re so kind" Elrohir put in, smiling innocently "ada had no reason to throw us out"  
  
"Hey you three, interesting conversation as that sounds we're sort of in the middle of something here, don't suppose you could help?"  
  
"oh, yeah sure" the three of them walked over to Estel and Legolas who were holding a bundle that looked strangely like.Galadriel?  
  
"Legolas, remind me again why we are playing this on Galadriel and Celeborn, wouldn't it be a better idea to play it on someone less important"  
  
"Well you said that your grandmother could take a joke"  
  
"I know I did but even she might protest to being dragged into the middle of the wood and left there, and Celeborn definitely wouldn't find it amusing"  
  
"Oh well it's to late now, come on"  
  
Soon both Celeborn and Galadriel had been brought out and they were being dragged across the grass by four elves and one human.  
  
"Umm Arwen?" Legolas said tentatively, not sure that he would like the answer to the question he was about to ask  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"How are we going to get them past the guards, I mean I'm not trying to be difficult but don't you think they might notice if we drags their leaders past them?"  
  
"No don't worry, its Halidir's lot on guard tonight and I told them we were playing this trick on two other elves, they agreed to turn a blind eye on us"  
  
"Oh good come on then"  
  
Soon they had reached the gate, and two warriors leapt down and barred their paths.  
  
"Stop, who's there?"  
  
"It's us Halidir, don't worry" Arwen replied smoothly, stepping in front of the bundles that were her Grandparents.  
  
"Ok go through" the combatant replied grinning.  
  
After they had gone about a mile from the gates they deemed it far enough. Stopping next to a large tree the heaved the elf lord and lady into the branches and tied them on to make sure they didn't fall off. Then, giggling madly they sprinted back to the city.  
  
Noon The Next Day  
  
Galadriel awoke in slight confusion as she felt the hot midday sun beating down on her face. That's strange, she thought, I never sleep in this late in the day, and come to think of it my bed seems a lot harder than usual. As she opened her eyes however the mystery was explained, she wasn't in her bed. She sighed as she realised that she was actually tied halfway up a Mallorn tree, it would appear that she had fallen foul to her grandchildren and friends latest trick. A slight movement to her left caught her attention and, turning her head round she smiled, it seemed that her husband had also been tricked, seeing as how he was tied up on the branch next to her. Celeborn jerked awake suddenly, opening his eyes he tried to sit up. The bonds that held him in however stopped any thoughts he may have had of sitting up and as he caught sight of his wife he asked in obvious bewilderment.  
  
"Umm dear, this may sound like a stupid question but, may I ask why we are suspended halfway up a tree."  
  
That is a very good question, and I'm sure that once we get back to the city our grandchildren will be happy to answer it."  
  
"right, Ok" Celeborn pursed his lips together in anger as he thought about what he was going to do when he got his hands on those five. Galadriel saw his look and gently she said.  
  
"I'm aware that your probably very angry, after all I'm hardly best pleased about this situation myself, but they are only having fun, I seem to remember you playing worse tricks than this when you were younger"  
  
"yes well, if we ever get out this you may change your mind about that" he said, gazing down with a worried expression on his face.  
  
"What do you mean if? Of course we're going to. oh" following his gaze she looked down to see about five orcs grinning wickedly at her.  
  
"Ok I agree, 'if' is good, how do you think we're going to get out of this one"  
  
"good question and I'd rather not think about the answer" replied Celeborn grimly as one of the orcs started climbing the tree. The orc had almost reached them and was stretching a foul hand out towards Galadriel when all of a sudden she heard a twang and an arrow flew through the air and hit the orc in the chest, killing him immediately. Four more arrows followed and the remaining orcs were quickly killed.  
  
"My lady, my lord, are you ok?" Halidir asked worriedly as he quickly cut his leaders free and helped them up.  
  
"we're fine" Galadriel replied, brushing the moss and bark of her gown.  
  
"though now I think about it, weren't you on watch last night?"  
  
"Umm" Halidir fell silent at that glancing helplessly at the elves that accompanied him.  
  
Glaring at his fellow warriors when they made no move to help him out he replied cautiously  
  
"Umm well Arwen told us that she was playing a trick last night and, not realising that you were the victims we agreed to go along with it"  
  
"That's quite alright" said Galadriel smiling "and while I remember thank you for saving us just now" she husband climbed sedately down the tree followed by the warriors who were doing their level best not to laugh. As the elf lord and lady entered the city the twins, Estel, Legolas and Arwen laughed quietly from their perch in the tree at the bedraggled state of the two elves.  
  
"I'm surprised the warriors took this long to find them"  
  
"Yeah there getting a bit out of shape"  
  
"Celeborn really doesn't look happy; I think w should stay out of his way for a bit"  
  
"Your right Estel, he looks like his about to explode" "Galadriel doesn't look to cross though, luckily for us"  
  
Laughing again they looked around for a means of escaping but it was to no avail as Galadriel's quick ears picked up the stifled giggles and without looking up she called.  
  
"Ok you lot you can come down now" realising they were not in trouble they climbed down quickly and stood innocently in front of her.  
  
"I don't mind you playing harmless." she broke of to glare at her husband who had snorted at the word harmless "..I don't mind but what you didn't know when you played this trick was that there were orcs around, orcs that nearly caught myself and Celeborn, please think about these things next time you do something like this" the five in front of her nodded quickly, their faces bright red. Whether this was from trying not to laugh or because they were sorry, Galadriel did not know, though she suspected it was the first. Quickly, before her husband could start on them she dismissed the five who quickly sprinted off so they could laugh out loud; they were in danger of bursting from the effort of holding their laughter in.  
  
The four had been in Lorien for a week now and had played a new joke every day, as well as the first two pranks they had now succeeded in pushing the leader into the Silverlode, luckily they weren't swept to far downstream before they were rescued by some nearby elves, and, they still weren't quite sure how they had managed this one, they had somehow got the whole of Halidir's band to fall down a waterfall and get swept into a lake several miles down stream. They weren't very popular after all these events so they decided to play one more trick as a finale then give it a rest for a while. They were getting tired of all the suspicious looks anyway, not that they could blame the elves from whom the looks had come.  
  
Legolas, Estel and the twins were lazing on the ground chewing blades of grass, randomly suggesting ideas for their grand finale.  
  
"I know" Estel said "lets drug them all like Legolas had me do to Thranduil"  
  
"That would be great" Legolas said "if there was an enchanted stream nearby to use for water, and even then I don't think we could make enough to put the whole of the realm to sleep."  
  
"Oh, right", Estel said forlornly  
  
"How about..nah it would never work"  
  
"I know we could.. No we did that yesterday"  
  
"I've got it! Wait, no I haven't."  
  
The four were at a loss. They had to do something, but what they couldn't decide. They were debating whether or not to give up when Arwen came rushing towards them like a mad thing.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" Legolas asked in mild curiosity  
  
"I know what trick we can play"  
  
At this the other four sat up, at once looking interested.  
  
"Well, what is it" Elladan asked  
  
"Ok, well I've just found out from Galadriel that some elves from the Gray Havens are coming for a visit to discuss some things, Cirdan included, I'm not sure exactly what we could do but it should definitely involve them and they'll be arriving today so if we plan it today we can play it this evening or tomorrow. This news inspired them to think of new tricks and soon the ideas were pouring forth, finally they settled on a plan and started preparing it gleefully.  
  
"Welcome Lord Cirdan, I hope you and your people enjoy your stay in our woods"  
  
Galadriel said graciously, greeting the visitors as they arrived the next day.  
  
"I am sure it will be as enjoyable as always" the elf replied placing his hand on his chest and sweeping it outwards in the traditional elvish greeting. Unbeknown to the newcomers, Galadriel and Celeborn, they were being watched by five pairs of mischievous eyes. The days that followed were filled with meetings between the leaders of the realm, but the final meeting that would determine what was to be done would be held at the end of the week before the elves of the Grey Havens left and would be held over a banquet. During this time the lord and lady of the wood were getting rather suspicious by the lack of tricks from the five; in fact if they didn't know better they would have thought that one was planned for today. However, the fact that the tricksters had gone hunting that morning pushed that thought out of their minds and they went into the meeting unsuspecting, thinking only about the meeting in hand.  
  
The combined feast and meeting was well underway with all the problems being solved well so far when a distraught and tearful Estel came running into the hall crying  
  
"HelphelpsomeonehelpthetwinsareinjuredandArwensbeenkidnappedbyorcsandlegolas hasdiaaopeared" sobbing Estel collapsed to the floor trying to smother the giggles that were threatening to erupt at his performance, luckily the thought of what Elladan and Elrohir would do to him if he spoiled their plan succeeded in silencing him.  
  
The room had fell silent at Estel's entrance and the occupants looked confused at the jumbled outburst of apparent nonsense. Galadriel got up and came towards him  
  
"What's wrong Estel? Speak slowly and clearly and repeat what you just said" Galadriel tried to calm the apparently distraught human and Estel, taking a few deep breaths as if trying to stop sobbing (in reality he was forcing himself not to laugh) repeated the sentence.  
  
"The twins are injured, Arwen has been kidnapped by orcs and Legolas has disappeared, I think he went to pick some daisies but I don't know where he's gone, what if the orcs got him too?"  
  
As he finished he once more burst into tears and Celeborn, Galadriel, Cirdan and numerous other elves from both realms rushed out of the door to the aid of the supposed victims, however most of the female elves stayed behind to comfort the hysterical human.  
  
As the rescue party left the city they quickly picked up on Estel's clumsy tracks and followed them to a clearing. They could see, on the other side of the clearing, Elladan lying in a heap covered in...blood? Instantly they rushed into the glade towards the supposedly injured elf. As soon as the whole group was in the middle of the dell another elf appeared behind them and cut a rope. Immediately a net sprang up from the ground and ensnared the whole crowd of elves in its midst. Laughing hysterically Elladan jumped up from the ground wiping off the fake blood (blackberry juice) and ran towards his brother. They were quickly joined by Arwen and Legolas, who had returned from his 'daisy picking', and the four of them sprinted off away from the trapped, protesting elves, clearing away all signs of their tracks as they went. Back in the city however Estel was surrounded by consoling elves and was really starting to enjoy all the attention when he saw Legolas in the doorway. Raising a finger to his lips the blond elf beckoned to his friend then disappeared out of sight. Getting up, Estel turned to his comforters and said  
  
"thanks, I feel much better now, bye" Running out of the door he was greeted by his fellow conspirators and, moving to their rooms so as to be out of sight and earshot of the elves that were left behind, he eagerly asked them how heir plan had gone.  
  
"Don't worry Estel, it worked fine, they fell for it hook, line and sinker." Arwen reassured the man.  
  
"Good I don't think I could have lasted much longer being fussed over by those elves" Estel replied  
  
"Don't lie Aragorn" Legolas said grinning "I saw your face when I went to get you, you were loving every minute of it and don't deny it"  
  
"Well" Estel agreed smiling "it was nice getting all the attention, so anyway, did Galadriel and the others seem annoyed at being strung up by a net?"  
  
"You should have heard some of the abuse they were shouting out after us, I'm scarred for life, honestly where are their manners, it's not like we've done any real harm"  
  
Arwen was looking out of the window as he said this and was smiling at what she saw.  
  
"well, actually Elladan its chucking it down out there, there's going to be some very wet and very annoyed elves arriving back here soon if they manage to cut themselves free, if not the elves that got left behind will probably go looking for them soon"  
  
"ah well, there's no way I'm going to go and cut them down, its to wet"  
  
Laughing the five mischief makers sat down on Estel's bed, as that was who's room they where in and spent an enjoyable hour talking and swapping tales of what had happened since they had seen each other last, they had played so many tricks that they hadn't really had time to swap news.  
  
When the hour had passed however their chatter was interrupted by the sound of many angry voices. Rushing to the window they shoved each other out of the way in the hope of spotting their victims and seeing how they angry they looked. The friends were not disappointed, each and every one of the tricked elves faces were as black as the thunder clouds still covering the sky and their robes and hair were sights to behold in themselves. Every robe was soaking wet and clung to the elves bodies and as for their hair, the normally neat and braided locks were dripping wet, messy and plastered down to the infuriated beings heads. Lord Cirdan's beard looked as though several rats had been crawling through it, so messy and bedraggled was it. When hearing the various threats that the elves were making the smiles on the tricksters faces vanished however and they decided that they had better make themselves scarce. Running through the treetops, scarcely heeding the rain the five vanished to a sheltered hollow, waiting their till the next morning when the visiting elves would have gone, hoping that with less elves angry at them they might just manage to escape punishment.  
  
Wistful thinking.  
  
When they traipsed back to the city although they were faced by a smaller amount of elves they were no less angry and the lecture they received from the fuming Lord Celeborn about continuous dangerous pranks, embarrassing them in front of guests and so forth was enough to put them off tricks for a while at least.  
  
Sadly this did nothing to quell the suspicious looks and wide berths given to them by the other elves and so, annoyed by being treated with such distrust, although they had to admit that they had themselves to blame, they took to going on trips during the day, hunting or having competitions and contests with each other.  
  
On one of these such occasions, when they had finished hunting, having not succeeded in spotting anything worth killing they started some contests, deciding to start with target shooting.  
  
"Ok" Elladan said "the first target is that tree over there, whoever gets there arrow on that knot, or whoever's arrow is nearest to that knot wins the competition."  
  
Being the eldest Elladan insisted on going first and swiftly notched his bow and released his arrow. Arcing gracefully through the air the arrow hit the tree about two centimetres from the target. "There" he said triumphantly "beat that if you can"  
  
"If you insist" Elrohir replied confidently, stepping forward and loosing his arrow. To his surprise and to the humour of the others it fell directly opposite to Elladan's on the other side of the knot. Estel fared no better, his arrow flew way off the mark, narrowly missing one of the horses standing nearby, and Arwen's arrow, although closer to the knot than either of the twin's ones, was still far from being accurate.  
  
Then Legolas stepped forward assertively and, drawing his bow with careful precision, he seemed to become part of the surrounding forest as he eyed the target. With a twang and a thud he let go off the string and his arrow flew through the air before hitting the knot directly in the centre. Smiling cockily and shouldering his bow Legolas turned to the others and said  
  
"Looks like I won that one, what's next"  
  
The next target was a berry on a bush some one hundred metres ago and these too was one by Legolas, target after target was named and each time Legolas hit it exactly. Finally they stopped trying to beat him and Elrohir turned to his twin and said  
  
"Ok let's give up on target shooting, what's next?"  
  
'Next' turned out to be horse racing, to the dismay of Estel who, being heavier than the elves could not ride as fast. At a shout from Elladan the race began. Arwen's horse took a quick lead racing ahead of the other four who, not wanting to be beaten by a girl spurred their horses on faster. They were not fast enough though and Arwen triumphantly gained the finish line at least two minutes ahead of the other elves and Estel arrived a good three minutes after that. Of course the third and final competition took a while to be announced as Arwen couldn't resist teasing the others about being beaten by a girl. Eventually however, annoyed with the mockery Elladan held up his hand up for silence and said  
  
"The third and final contest is to test your fencing skills" everyone had to fight everyone else at least once and this lasted a long time.  
  
Firstly Estel fought everyone and he managed to defeat the twins and draw with Legolas. Arwen however was a different matter, not wanting to unintentionally hurt her he took it easy and didn't really test her skill; Arwen of course took advantage of this fact and disarmed him in about a minute.  
  
She wasn't so lucky in her other matches because, although her skill was as good as the others, and in the twins cases even better she was less strong and so lost to her brothers and Legolas. The twins were very evenly matched with each other and in the end they called it draw and Elrohir watched as Elladan took on Legolas. This match lasted a while but eventually Legolas knocked his opponent down and turned to fight the remaining twin, he won that one as well and then came the final.  
  
Legolas and Aragorn were quite well matched as both had learnt from the other during their time as friends and it looked to be an interesting fight.  
  
Legolas struck out first with his right hand and Aragorn, anticipating the move raised his sword to block it. With his right knife still touching Aragorn's the prince spun round and ducked, lightly raking his knife against Aragorn's leg, ripping his leggings and scratching his skin.  
  
"Hey" Aragorn said jumping back away from the knife and thrusting his sword towards Legolas's arm "I liked those leggings" laughing, Legolas easily jumped aside and parried the blow. Sadly he didn't look where he was going and tripped over a log, falling to the floor. As Aragorn raised his sword to place it on Legolas's chest the elf rolled to the side and leapt swiftly to his feet once more. Angry at himself for tripping up Legolas quickened his pace and Aragorn struggled to block the swift onslaught of the blows his friend threw at him. Backing away from the blows, parrying as he went he tried to match his friend's movements looking for an opportunity to attack the elf and turn the tables. That moment didn't come though as this time it was Aragorn's turn to fall over as he backed away from Legolas and his reflexes not as good as an elf's he did not get up quick enough and Legolas leapt forward with a feline grace brushing the tip of one of his knives against Aragorn's tunic. As the three spectators cheered Legolas smiled lightly and, reaching out a hand he pulled his friend up from the floor.  
  
"Hey that was a good fight Estel; you'll beat me one day"  
  
Grinning Aragorn replied  
  
"I already have don't you remember Legolas, on my first visit to Mirkwood when I knocked you out"  
  
Arwen had been lolling around on the grassy bank in boredom but at Estel's words she sat up.  
  
"You knocked Legolas out? How did that happen?"  
  
"Well" replied Elladan, "you know the ancient warring techniques of the elves?" when she nodded he continued "I taught them to Estel not realising he would be stupid enough to use them on a royal and well poor Legolas didn't know what hit him"  
  
"Yes I did, I knew exactly what hit me, Estel hit me and I wasn't best pleased" Arwen was rolling around in laughter  
  
"Oh Estel, you never cease to make me laugh"  
  
"Is that a good thing?" he replied grinning  
  
"It depends on the manner of my laughter" she said.  
  
Tired out by the days activities the five friends sat on the ground talking, however the heat of the sun made them all feel drowsy and one by one the fell asleep. Several hours later they were still asleep when all of a sudden Legolas sat up. He looked around him trying to work out why he had just woken up but he couldn't figure it out.  
  
Giving up the idea of going back to sleep again he got up and wandered off to explore the part of the golden wood in which they were currently residing. Soon he came to a tall Mallorn tree that rose above the others, swiftly he began to climb it and when he reached the topmost branches he stopped and perched there with his eyes closed swaying with the breeze.  
  
Meanwhile, where the others were sleeping, Arwen had also woken up now and was sitting on the bank, smiling at the sight of her brothers sleeping in the sun. Getting up she wandered off in search of some blackberries, oblivious of the danger heading towards her brothers.  
  
Up in the tree Legolas heard the clashing of blades at the same time as Arwen and both of them turned round and sprinted back to the grassy bank, reaching it at the same time. The scene that met there eyes was very different from the one they had seen when they left the bank. The place was littered with the bodies of orcs, and the arrows sticking out of some of them were easily recognisable as those of the twins and Estel, but where those three were they did not know.  
  
"Elladan, Elrohir, Estel, where are you" Arwen shouted her voice risen almost deafeningly in her panic. Legolas meanwhile was scouting round the edge of the bank looking for signs, after about a minutes searching he looked up triumphantly.  
  
"They went this way" he said looking at Arwen  
  
"Well" she said striding forward "Lets go"  
  
"Oh no, your not coming" Legolas said knowing that Arwen wouldn't like this  
  
"Yes I am, they are my brothers and I am coming to help you find them"  
  
"Don't be stupid, if you get yourself killed then I don't know what the twins, let alone Estel would do to me"  
  
"Well tough I am coming and you cant stop me" she cried defiantly.  
  
Legolas sighed this was true he couldn't stop her, unless. no he couldn't tie her up and leave her there no matter how tempting it was, look what had happened when they did that to Galadriel and Celeborn when they didn't know that there were orcs in the near vicinity. Now he knew that there were definitely orcs so around. Arwen took his sigh as a sign that she had won and she smiled annoyingly at Legolas.  
  
"OK lets go then, we don't want to give them to long a head start and we've already wasted a lot of time standing here talking".  
  
Sighing again Legolas shook his head in exasperation, what had he got himself into. They had packed up all their belongings and had just leapt lightly onto their horses when the sound of another horse came to the keen ears; quickly they dismounted weapons drawn waiting to see who the approaching rider was. A chestnut horse appeared through the trees and Arwen, recognising it sheathed her sword and went to meet its rider  
  
"Mae govannon Halidir"  
  
"Arwen, Legolas are you all ok? a band of orcs was seen heading this way" Stepping forward Legolas said  
  
"Halidir, Arwen and I are fine but the twins and Estel have been taken by the orcs, I was just going after them."  
  
"And I was going with him" said Arwen once more going to her horse  
  
"I've changed my mind Arwen, Halidir will escort you back to Caras Galadhon and I will go after the orcs" Halidir nodded in agreement and before Arwen could stop them Legolas had galloped off after the orcs and Halidir was holding her wrists to prevent her from following.  
  
"Let go of me you stupid elf, I am the granddaughter of your leader and what I say goes"  
  
"Ah" replied Halidir grinning infuriatingly "But Legolas is a prince and so has more power than you, he might have my head chopped of if I disobey him"  
  
"I'd chop your head of myself if you would just let go" she growled kicking the elf in the shins in an attempt to free herself.  
  
"Ow, ok you can either stop struggling and kicking and let me take you back to the city freely or I can tie you up and drag you there. Muttering curses under her breath Arwen relented and stopped struggling, she allowed herself to be led to her horse and they started the journey back to the golden city.  
~~~~~  
  
Legolas swore under his breath, all that time wasted in arguing with Arwen meant that the trail was harder to read, luckily the foul creatures seemed to take delight in destroying anything they see and the trail of decapitated branches and other debris was still easy enough too follow. Getting back on his horse he continued cautiously having no idea where the orcs were and not wanting to come across them suddenly.  
~~~~~  
  
"Are we there yet?"  
  
"No"  
  
"Are we there yet?"  
  
"No"  
  
"Are we ther...?"  
  
"Lady Arwen you know very well how long it takes to get to the city, it is, after all, your home.." momentarily distracted by his annoyance with Arwen he didn't notice when his charge turned swiftly and silently round on her horse and using all her riding skills galloped of as fast as she could.  
  
". and if you don't know where that is by now then you really should. Arwen, ARWEN where are you., oh no, I should have known," turning round on his horse he followed Arwen's trail back in the direction from whence they had came.  
  
When she had got a good mile between her and Halidir she leapt of her horse and into the bottom bows of a tree above her, whispering in elvish to her horse she told him to go back to the city. When her horse had turned round to go she climbed higher up the tree, out of sight of anyone who may ride below her, and started to run along the branches, her sharp eyes picking up both the orcs and Legolas's trail on the ground far below her.  
?????  
  
Estel groaned as he came back to consciousness. There had been to many orcs and although he and his brothers had killed many of them they had been overcome and captured. That in itself worried Estel for though he was glad he wasn't dead he knew the cruelty of orcs and he knew to be captured by them was not good. Groggily he opened his eyes and stared blearily around him. He was tied to a tree, that much he could tell, and as he looked around the orc camp he could see his brothers were similarly restrained. His heart lightened considerably as he saw that they were alive and breathing, in fact it looked as if Elrohir was coming too as well. At that moment a dark shadow loomed menacingly over Estel and he gulped silently to himself, he knew what was coming and he definitely wasn't looking forward to it.  
  
"Your awake are you, good, me and my boys want to have a bit of fun with you and those elf scum your with."  
  
Dragging Estel to his feet the orc stripped him to the waist and tied him to two trees. Looking across the camp he could see his brothers were not faring any better, indeed the orcs hatred of the elven kind led them to treat the fair creatures even more roughly than they had treated human. Estel struggled uselessly at the sight of the abuse and was backhanded painfully by the leering orc in front of him, the foul beasts armoured glove splitting the mans lip. Estel stiffened as he heard Elladan cry out in pain as one of the evil beings punched him hard in the ribs, he was concentrating so hard on his brother that he was unprepared for the next blow that hit him on the side of his head, snapping his head to one side.  
  
Estel groaned involuntary at the pain that spread through his body as the orcs fist contacted with his head over and over again. Once, when the orc had relented for a moment, Estel stole a glance at his brothers fearing what he would see. The sight that met his eyes filled him with horror and nausea swept through his body. The twins backs showed layer upon of bleeding welts which could only have been gotten from the bite of a whip.  
  
Even as he peered in revulsion as the sight of his brothers marred backs he felt the sharp sting of a whip on his own already bruised and aching back. As lash upon lash fell on his body he gave in to the hurt and let the blissful painless sleep of unconsciousness take over his body. Unfortunately it took his brothers longer for their bodies to give in, their elvish heritage made their bodies stronger and more reluctant to give into the relief of unconsciousness. Eventually however the pain was to much, even for them and the orcs, seeking no further pleasure in the captives, went back to there crudely made campsite, leaving their sport for later.  
~~~~~  
  
Arwen laughed softly to herself as she peered down from the trees. She had been following Legolas for an hour now without being spotted, although he had seemed to sense something's presence as he kept turning around suspiciously. She had found it hard not to be spotted but had managed it by staying high up in the trees. Ten minutes ago he had sent his horse back to Caras Galadhon, finding it hard to track on horse back as dusk began to close in the golden forest. Had Legolas known that they were only about two miles from the orc camp he never would have stop for the night, but, not wanting to miss any important tracks he had decided that settling down would be best, hoping to reach his friends the next day.  
  
"Elbereth Gilthoniel" he sighed, searching the sky for Earendil the star of hope  
  
"Nyë nauv hir lyë Estel" (I will find you Estel.)  
  
Up in the tree, Arwen smiled sadly at his words, her brothers had found a good friend in the prince, even if he did think that girls were useless, needed to be looked after and couldn't protect themselves. Oh well she was sure he would change his mind pretty soon, she laughed inwardly at that thought and curled up in the tree hoping that the morning would bring success.  
~~~~~  
  
Estel's body hung limply, kept up only by the trees that he was tied to, throughout the night the orcs had repeatedly beaten him into unconsciousness, moving on to one of their other captives each time unconsciousness claimed their current victim's body. Now, as Arien, the fire spirit guided the morning sun across the horizon the orcs were once more turning their attentions to their powerless captives. Estel came too in time to see the orcs cut his brothers down from their tree supports and watched helplessly as they held the twins on their knees next to each other.  
  
"Ya know" Estel heard one of the orcs growl "at a guess I'd say that these two were twins." Even in his current state Estel couldn't help finding this extremely stupid and would have said so if it wasn't for his precariously dangerous position.  
  
"But it would be easy to change that wouldn't it boys" the orcs laughed at their leader's comment but Estel didn't find it at all amusing, looking into his brothers faces he could see the fear and pain in the glazed eyes and he dreaded to think what the orcs were about to do. The orc pulled Elrohir's head back and placed the blade against the top of the elf's gracefully pointed ears, sending a small trickle of blood running down the lobe and onto his neck. Estel realised what he intended to and stared in shock struggling uselessly against his bonds. Sensing the human's eyes on him the orc turned round and grinned menacingly.  
  
"Ah the human is awake, ya know I think he would enjoy watching what I'm about to do, bring him over here you two" he snarled pointing at two orcs who immediately cut down the ranger and dragged him over too the other prisoners laughing evilly.  
~~~~~  
  
Legolas froze in shock as he overheard the conversation between the orcs, guessing what they planned to do he broke into a run. Reaching the glade that the orcs were using as a camp he quickly shot an arrow at the orc that was about to slice of the tip of Elrohir's ear. Immediately the camp was in an uproar, the orcs leapt up and ran around the camp trying to work out where the arrow had came from. The three captives looked up in anticipation, guessing who the arrow had come from and hope once more filled their hearts.  
  
The orcs soon discovered Legolas and quickly surrounded him. Arwen reached the dell to see Legolas duck an orc blade and kill the attacking beast; she also noticed that Legolas was so engrossed in killing the orcs in front of him that he didn't notice the orc that was raising his scimitar to bring it down on the prince's head. Quickly pulling out her bow she strung an arrow and shot the orc, then throwing it aside she rushed to join the fray.  
  
"Arwen" Legolas said in shock as she killed an orc at the side of him "I thought I left you with Halidir"  
  
"You did" she replied grinning mischievously as she rolled out of the way of an orc blade and swiftly killed the foul being.  
  
"But he's so easy to distract"  
  
Legolas groaned, then quickly turned his attention back to the orcs, there were still a lot left.  
  
"Arwen, next time I want to get rid of you, remind me to tie you up and leave you in a tree, I think that would work better, you're too much trouble for any one elf."  
  
"Yeah well, your ideas about women leave much to be desired son of Thranduil; I thought I should correct them. You seemed to think we were helpless weaklings that need protecting; I trust you know better by now?"  
  
"All I know now is that you are one of the most stubborn people I have ever met with the exception of Estel, if you ever do get married I dread to think what your children would be like." Easily dispatching an orc that was at least twice the size of her Arwen turned in time to see two orcs bearing down on Legolas and swiftly ran to his aid.  
  
"Thank you" he said turning to the next group of orcs, there were only a few left now and he quickly slew them. As soon as the orcs were dead Arwen rushed to her brothers who had once more fallen unconscious, the pain to much for them to stand, and quickly felt there pulses. Crying out in horror at the sight of their badly beaten and abused bodies she called urgently to Legolas.  
  
"Legolas, their pulses are very faint, we need to get them to my grandmother and quickly. Legolas knelt down beside her and examined the brothers, Elladan had fared especially badly and his body was encrusted with dried blood.  
  
"Arwen, we cannot carry all three of them, you must go back and get help"  
  
"No I'm not leaving them"  
  
"For once listen to me, they will not last long if we don't hurry" nodding Arwen got up but just as she started off three riders burst through the clearing. Legolas sighed in relief, and lowered his knives which he had automatically reached for at the sound of their approach.  
  
It was Halidir and his brothers Rúmil and Orophin, the three elves quickly took in the situation and, after a hasty enquiry of the well being of Legolas and Arwen they each picked up one of the injured three and road off, leaving the exhausted rescuers to make their own way home.  
  
They had only been walking for about two hours but to the two weary elves it had seemed forever. Leaning against each other for support they stumbled along there energy almost gone. Eventually they allowed there bodies to give in to fatigue and fell down in a heap, falling asleep almost immediately. Galadriel smiled at the sight, she had been worried at how long Legolas and her granddaughter had been taking and she and Celeborn had set out to find them as soon as her grandsons were out of danger. There in the middle of a shady hollow sat the two elves back to back. She and her husband each gently lifted one of the pair and, setting them carefully in front of them on their horses they set of at a calm trot back to the refuge of the realm.  
  
Legolas opened his eyes slowly and groaned, his body ached at every small movement, but he thought grinning in spite of himself, he wasn't the one that had been captured by orcs, he dreaded to think how the sons of Elrond felt. He looked around him and saw that he was asleep in his flet. Cautiously he got out of his bed, ignoring the protest of his aching muscles. Going along the tree he peered into Estel's room and was pleased to see that, his friend was fine, barring the bruised and battered face that looked much better now it had been cleaned. The twins were also healing well and Arwen was sure to be fine, if a little achy like him.  
  
Climbing to the topmost flet he sat with one leg pulled up to his chest and the other dangling over the edge. Singing softly to himself in his own tongue he looked out of the corner of his and noticed Estel climbing to his flet with great difficulty, whether that was caused by his injuries or the fact that he wasn't a particularly good climber Legolas didn't know, though he expected it was a bit of both.  
  
"Estel, what are you doing up? You're supposed to be in bed"  
  
"I'm fine" he said as he limped across the flet, almost falling off the edge. Luckily Legolas managed to catch him in time.  
  
"Come on you stubborn human, you are going to bed and if you make a scene don't think I won't drug you."  
  
"You know Legolas, for once I don't think I'll argue" he said yawning "I'm really tired"  
  
"Indeed" Legolas said pursing his lips at the sight of his friends marred back.  
  
"I think we had better stay here for a while. If we leave anytime soon I don't think your father will be very pleased at the state of you and your brothers."  
  
"Oh you worry too much Legolas; father will just be pleased we're still alive"  
  
By the time they reached Estel's room the man had fallen asleep once more and Legolas had to practically drag him to his bed.  
  
"Lómë mellon nim" (night my friend)  
  
Silently Legolas left his room and climbed down the tree, he was suddenly very hungry and was trying to find some food.  
  
"Legolas, you seem to be looking for something, can I help?"  
  
Startled, Legolas looked round to find the source of the question. As his eyes came to rest on the lady Galadriel he bowed in respect.  
  
"Yes, I was wondering if I could find any food any where, I have not eaten for about two days and I am rather hungry."  
  
"I expect you are" she laughed "I must thank you for looking after my grandchildren, you even managed to put up with Arwen's stubbornness without murdering her which is an accomplishment in itself." Legolas looked at her in astonishment, this family never ceased to amaze him, he couldn't in a million years imagine his father talking like that, laughing he followed the lady to a much needed meal.  
  
Several hours later when he had been fed and watered sufficiently, the sleepiness once more caught up with him and thanking the lady for the meal he returned to his room and, curling up in his bed he fell to sleep again.  
  
A week later the four were ready to leave; Legolas was going with them to stay at Rivendell for a while before returning to his own home. Tearfully, upset at them leaving again Arwen hugged them all in turn and no one failed to notice that her hug to Estel seemed to last an especially long time. They had also all realised that both she and the human had vanished for several hours that morning and had turned up together just in time to leave. However they eventually managed to leave the city, escorted by Halidir, Arwen and several other elves. As they reached the city gates they could here angry shouts from behind them as the trick they had left for the elves to remember them by was undoubted discovered. Smiling at each other they galloped of leaving a most probably wet and angry lord and lady behind.  
  
The four friends looked down into the valley of Imladris. It had been a week since they had left Lorien, but this time their journey had gone quite peacefully luckily for them in their slightly weakened state. They had only suffered from a minor wolf attack and Estel had finally got to tell the tale of what had happened the last time Legolas visited Rivendell.  
  
Apparently he had succeeded in stealing the prince's clothes while the elf was swimming in the lake thus forcing his friend to try and sneak back into Rivendell almost naked. Sadly for the prince Estel had also caused a commotion in the courtyard and so the prince was seen by most of Rivendell when he returned from his swim. Needless to say it was a while since Legolas had came out of his room on that particular visit and even then he hadn't lived the embarrassment down.  
  
It was evening by the time they reached the house and smiling the elf lord came out of the house to greet them, having finally forgiven the three for the prank they had played on him before they left. In retrospect he had gotten off lightly considering what Galadriel and the other Lorien elves had put up with.  
  
"Ada, how are you, have you found it terribly boring without us" Elladan said grinning as he leapt of his horse and went to embrace his father.  
  
"No actually it was wonderful; I got some peace and managed to get a lot of work done"  
  
"Ah we know you missed us really" Elrohir said grinning as he too was hugged by his father, followed by Estel. Legolas greeted Elrond respectfully then said  
  
"Your sons persuaded me to come and stay with you for a little while longer before returning to my kingdom, I hope you don't object"  
  
"not at all" Elrond answered at once "you should know by now that you will always be welcome here, just try not to get Estel into to much trouble, and stay of the tricks for a bit, though from the letter I received from Cirdan the other day that particular item of annoyance should have been exercised enough recently considering the tricks you played in Laurelindorien"  
  
Elrond looked into the faces of the four in front of him, not really thinking that the answer would be the one he hoped for. Looking at each other the four just grinned wickedly at and sighing Elrond walked in, praying to the valar to give him the strength he would need to last the rest of Legolas's stay.  
  
No matter how much the prince insisted that it was not his fault, as soon as he and Estel got together trouble just wouldn't leave them alone.  
  
Hope you like it; please review, pretty please with a cherry on top, if it's a specially good review I'll give you two cherries. 


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